Can You Hire the Super for Odd Jobs?

For decades, shareholders in my co-op in Morningside Heights, Manhattan,have hired building maintenance staff to do private handyman jobs on their own time, like installing shelving and making repairs. Last summer, the co-op board changed the house rules. Building employees can no longer do such jobs because of concerns about liability and misuse of co-op time. Many shareholders are upset. Can co-ops dictate what employees do in their private time and whom shareholders hire?

We all need someone to install light fixtures from time to time. Why troll the Internet for a handyman when you could hire the porter?

Many buildings consider the perk “an amenity that actually enhances the value of the apartments and fosters good relations between the shareholders and building staff,” said Andrew J. Wagner, a real estate lawyer in the New York office of Anderson Kill.

But the arrangement could cause problems for the building. What if the employee is injured, or damages the apartment while installing a ceiling fan? The co-op, as the property owner, could be liable, Mr. Wagner said. For this reason, the board is within its rights to prohibit the practice.

The super also might not want to spend his time making sure a worker has clocked out before accepting cash from a resident. “The employee could be double-dipping,” said Mark B. Levine, a principal at EBMG, a property management company. A blanket rule makes life easier for management.

Even the porters might have mixed feelings about the arrangement. Turn down a job, and a disgruntled resident could withhold a holiday tip as retribution. “It is sometimes difficult for staff members to say no to shareholders,” said Lisa A. Smith, a partner in the New York office of the law firm Smith, Gambrell & Russell.

Building management could provide residents with a list of licensed and insured handymen, plumbers and electricians who are familiar with the building and its policies. But the list should be considered a reference, Ms. Smith said, not a referral.

Or residents could send a petition to the board, asking that the rule be modified. For example, the board could require shareholders to assume legal responsibility for any claims against the co-op from such jobs, Mr. Wagner said. Such a rule, however, would leave residents financially vulnerable should anything go awry.

And if all else fails? Residents could elect new leadership that pledges to overturn an unpopular policy.